Not exactly a filecard secret, but I think it's interesting nonetheless:

According to this Wikipedia article (which references the DeSimone guide, Michlig's "G.I. Joe; The Complete Story of America's Favorite Man of Action," and DePriest's "The Collectable G.I. Joe"), the first three GI Joe prototypes produced in 1966 were given the following unofficial names:

Action Soldier/Marine: Rocky

Action Pilot: Ace

Action Sailor: Skip

It's interesting to note that "Ace" and "Skip" eventually found their way to the early 1980s ARAH (with Ace, the team's first fighter pilot, and W.H.A.L.E. helmsman and facial hair enthusiast Cutter, whose file name is Skip A. Stone). Too bad about the Rocky name being so synonymous with the fictional boxer. Who knows, maybe if Rocky wasn't so identifiable with Stallone, Robert Graves would have been code-named Rocky instead of Grunt. A shame that the 1986 Rocky figure was cancelled before it went past the early prototype page, it would have been a nice roundabout way of reuniting the original three Joes via their ARAH namesakes.

Anyway, I've been reading up on AFSOC's capabilities and came across the 6th Special Operations Squadron. Interesting stuff. They're basically similar to Army Special Forces' SFOD-A (without the specialized direct action capability). I think I've finally found a "home" for the GI Joe fighter pilots that will fit in with the Joe roster I'm drawing up (which I can hopefully finish and post in my Forum Art thread later tonight).

Yes I've been organizing the units that fall under AFSOC and noticed that the 6th Special Ops Squadron falls under the 1st SpeOps Group, 1st SpeOps Wing at Hurlburt Field, FL. Seems interesting that they are qualified to fly a number of foreign transports and helicopters, particularly Russian and they have Twin Hueys and C-130Es. No fighter jets, though, that I'm aware of, so Ace and Slipstream are gonna have get new type ratings.

Check out the paint job on this UH-1N from the 20th Spec Ops Sqn. Whenever I see a Huey I can hear Little Richard's Long Tall Sally playing in the back of my head. "...she got everything Uncle John need..."

Neat explanation Tansksmasher. I think you pretty much nailed it... except for the part about the MSPF. MSPFs are collections of MEU personnel, organized into a "mini-MAGTF" for mission-specific taskings (usually cases where a small and discreet landing force with ground and aviation combat capability is needed). Once their particular mission is finished, an MSPF is dissolved (hence the non-existence of "numbered" MSPF units) and their personnel go back to their respective MEU elements.

Anyway, I've been reading up on AFSOC's capabilities and came across the 6th Special Operations Squadron. Interesting stuff. They're basically similar to Army Special Forces' SFOD-A (without the specialized direct action capability). I think I've finally found a "home" for the GI Joe fighter pilots that will fit in with the Joe roster I'm drawing up (which I can hopefully finish and post in my Forum Art thread later tonight).

Nice find Zulu!

They trace there lineage to the Air Commando units of WWII that flew all the gliders. You know growing up as a kid, I had only ever read about the Air Commandos as Air Force Special Forces. I suppose the PJs were just not as known of an entity yet. I remember having a series of books on Special Forces I would repeatedly check out. One was the Air Commandos. The 1st Air Commandos is now the 1st Special Operations Wing which is the unit the 6th Special Operations Squadron is a part of.

Have you looked at the other units in the 1st SOW? Each one seems to be specialized in different aircraft. Although I like the idea of these smaller aircraft that can land in deep jungle I presume on short little runways. I suppose you can get a Gunship in there as well? Which Aircraft are you going to see them using?

Can't wait to see how you do it. As much as Ace is a fighter pilot, being part of the Joes sort of means he should be their Transport guy. We've seen him fly C-130s plenty of times in the comics.

Yeah I saw those on wiki. I meant like the AC-130's and AC-47's Spookys. If you poke arounf the link that Zulu has for Hurlburt that is a ton more plus there are other foreign aircraft they are flying as well.

I guess the Mi8 is the most produce helicopter ever so that would be good to know how to use. Although I don't see it as more a Gunship helicopter than a Huey can be. It's more a transport copter. And Great in high altitudes and Cold weather.

Since they don't mention any of the Gunship Variants I'm not sure it's part of the mission of the 6th. I guess they are trained in such tactics so they can assist in FID (Foreign Internal Defense) when they get the locals to join in the fight.

An article said they were mainly using the Mi 8 as a training transport helicopter. As a gunship, though, it would prove a little more versatile than the Huey. It can carry either 24 pax or 6600 lbs of arsenal on the hardpoints. Max speed of 140 kts with 280 mile range.
The UH-1N in contrast only carries about 6-8 troops, 120 knot max speed with 286 mile range. It only has half the useful load of the Mi-8, so when you start adding weapons you have to cut pax capacity. However, the Mi-8 is fairly dual-purpose. The Russians did the same with the Mi-24/25 Hind, which is troop-carrying and fighting gunship all in one. Smart idea. But they seemed to move away from the dual-purpose gunship with the Mi-28.

Back to filecards.. for a second.. I was thinking... since the movie decided to make the Joe team more international (Heavy Duty being from the UK) wouldn't it be nice to have some Special Ops soldiers from Australia. Why not make Outback (Aptly Named) and Recondo from Down Under? From what I know about Australia you have to be one hell of a Survivalist to survive in some of their harsh environments. I'd like to add a bit of Aussie Accent to the team with Outback being from Brisbane, Australia, and Recondo from Queenstown, Tasmania. Just a thought.. I'm already making the corrections to my Joe-verse.